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Bringing high-speed Wi-Fi to every student and library is at the center of the proposal, which drew praise from some observers, but concerns from education organizations about the sustainability of funding beyond the 2016-17 school year. Wi-Fi is networking technology that allows computers and other devices to communicate over a wireless signal.

As described in a fact sheet, the plan to modernize the 18-year-old E-rate program, which is designed to subsidize schools' and libraries' telecommunications costs, has three main components.

First, it seeks to close the Wi-Fi gap in schools by committing at least $1 billion in guaranteed support for those technologies for the 2015-16 school year, followed by another $1 billion in 2016-17, with a multiyear transition to broadband-only services, eventually helping schools use the Internet for telephone services. Today, three out of five schools lack the Wi-Fi capability to use 21st-century education tools, according to a statement from the FCC announcing the proposal.

Second, the proposal would make E-rate dollars go further by focusing on processes to drive down prices and increase transparency about how aid under the program is spent.

And lastly, it would streamline the application process to make it easier for districts and schools to use the E-rate program.

If the commission adopts the chairman's proposal, Mr. Wheeler estimates that 10 million students in 2015-16 could get Wi-Fi Internet connections. Nationwide, the proposal would increase funding for Wi-Fi by 75 percent for rural schools, and 60 percent for urban schools, allowing 44 million students and 16,000 libraries to have access to Wi-Fi services by the 2019-20 school year, the FCC said in a July 1 release.

"By acting this summer, the commission can begin supporting wireless upgrades in schools and libraries, ensuring that connectivity not only reaches the building but all the way to students' desks and devices," EducationSuperHighway said in its statement.

The state ed-tech directors' association noted that Mr. Wheeler's proposal reflected many of the organization's priorities for school technology.

The consortium partnered with EducationSuperHighway in releasing an analysis in May showing that the E-rate program is billions of dollars short of meeting schools' wireless-network needs.

Although finding some pieces of the new E-rate proposal laudable, CoSN's statement on the subject suggested that the plan falls short of providing enough funding to meet President Barack Obama's goal of connecting 99 percent of K-12 students in the United States to high-speed Internet by 2018.

Providing an online educational experience that is transformative will require a greater investment in broadband connections, as well as Wi-Fi and local area networks, the organization said.

Others critical of the FCC plan were disappointed the commission did not commit to a more dramatic expansion of the overall size of the E-rate program, which is supported now at about $2.4 billion a year.

"We believe the only way you can really move forward with programmatic changes to support the president's goals of 99 percent [connectivity] is if you increase funding," Mary Kusler, the director of government relations for the 3 million-member National Education Association, said in an interview.

"They've articulated they could find $2 billion between the couch cushions over the next two years," said Noelle M. Ellerson, the associate executive director for policy and advocacy for the AASA. She was referring to Mr. Wheeler's announcement in February that the FCC could repurpose about $2 billion in funding for the E-rate.

"Once you've shaken out all the couch cushions, how do you find more?" Ms. Ellerson said.

'A Step Backward'

The American Library Association urged the FCC to incorporate a portion of the first proposed $1 billion down payment to high-capacity broadband.

"The lack of access to affordable, high-capacity broadband to the building remains a major challenge for so many libraries and schools," the ALA said in a statement. "Such access must be fully funded for eligible applicants, regardless of any new funding models for Wi-Fi services."